Antonia (gens)

The gens Antonia was a Roman family of great antiquity, with both patrician and plebeian branches. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Titus Antonius Merenda, one of the second group of Decemviri called, in 450 BC, to help draft what became the Law of the Twelve Tables.[1]

Origin of the gens

Marcus Antonius, the triumvir, pretended that his gens was descended from Anton, a son of Heracles. We are told that he harnessed lions to his chariot to commemorate his descent from this hero; and many of his coins bear a lion for the same reason.[2][3][4]

Praenomina used by the gens

The patrician Antonii used the praenomina Titus and Quintus. Titus does not appear to have been used by the plebeian Antonii, who instead used Quintus, Marcus, Lucius, and Gaius. There is also one instance of Aulus, while Marcus Antonius the triumvir named one of his sons Iulus. This name, also borne by a later descendant of the triumvir, may have been an ancient praenomen revived by the family, but it was probably also intended to call to mind the connections of the Antonii with the illustrious gens Julia.

Branches and cognomina of the gens

The patrician Antonii bear the cognomen Merenda; the plebeian Antonii bear no surname under the Republic, with the exception of Quintus Antonius, propraetor in Sardinia in the time of Sulla, who is called Balbus on coins.[5]

Members of the gens

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

See also

List of Roman gentes

References

  1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
  2. Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Antonius 4, 36, 60.
  3. Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia viii. 16. s. 21; comp. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum x. 13.
  4. Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum vi. pp. 38, 44.
  5. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
  6. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia x. 58, xi. 23, 33.
  7. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita iii. 35, 38, 41, 42.
  8. Fasti Capitolini
  9. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita iv. 42.
  10. Fasti Capitolini
  11. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita viii. 17.
  12. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX ii. 9. § 2.
  13. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxxvii. 32.
  14. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xlv. 4.
  15. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xlv. 21, 40.
  16. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
  17. Florus, Epitome de T. Livio Bellorum omnium annorum DCC Libri duo 86.
  18. Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Pompeius 24.
  19. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX iv. 2. § 6.
  20. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippicae ii. 38.
  21. Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Antonius 9.
  22. Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History xliv. 53.
  23. Appianus, Bellum Civile v. 93.
  24. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum Nero 5.
  25. Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Antonius 87.
  26. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales iv. 44.
  27. Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Suasoriae 2. p. 19, ed. Bip.
  28. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, Institutio Oratoria i. 5. § 43.
  29. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
  30. Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia xxv. 5.
  31. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum Claudius 27, Nero 35.
  32. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales xii. 2, xiii. 23, xv. 53.
  33. Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History lx. 5.
  34. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae i. 20.
  35. Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum ii. p. 404.
  36. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae iv. 45.
  37. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae i. 87, ii. 12.
  38. Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 4.3, 18, 5.10
  39. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae i. 20.
  40. Fasti Capitolini.
  41. Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae iv. 1, ix. 15, xv. 1, xviii. 5, xix. 9, xx. 9.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "article name needed". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 

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